ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: The Senate standing committee on communications on Tuesday said a strict merit policy should be observed for recruitments in the Pakistan Post Office (PPO) department.

The committee met here under the chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha and discussed the criteria for the inhabitants of less developed areas of Balochistan for recruitment against vacancies in the postal department.

PPO Director-General informed the committee that the procedure for recruitment was the same as in other areas of the country. He said different posts were advertised for filling 84 vacancies from Balochistan.

Members of the committee were of the view that while advertising vacancies, only qualifications for a post should be mentioned and that the requirement of 1st or 2nd division be relaxed.

The matter was raised in the upper house by Senator Mohammad Ismail Buledi and later it was referred to the standing committee.

About non-payment of wages to the daily-wage employees of the PPO Islamabad, the committee was told that all the daily wagers had been paid. It was assured that payment would be made promptly in future.

The committee was told that the daily wagers would have to appear in and qualify the prescribed competitive examination for regularization.